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ok for easy access to the park but its no 5 star hotel!!

We stayed in the Splash Landings Hotel at Alton Towers in September 2012 and I have to say my experience was not great. There was me and three other adults all in our mid 20's, all of the bedrooms are designed for a family of four, one double bed and bunk beds. They have not thought about if four adults want to share a room at all. The double bed is fine but the bunk beds are tiny and did not feel very secure. One of the people I stayed with was just over 6 ft and could not fit in the bed at all. The rooms were also tiny with hardly any space to move around with four adults and our luggage in the room. During the day this room is ideal as we were out in the park but in the evenings there is nothing to do apart from sit in the room, very cramped.

We opted for the evening buffet in the Flambo's restaurant, £19.99 all you can eat. The food was ok, there was a great variety to choose from, including Indian, roast dinner and Mexican. Everything was fine until I noticed a small child playing with the food on the buffet counter and then placing it back for someone else to select and eat, this is disgusting and I felt there needed to be more staff members keeping an eye on this as it put me off eating anything else. There was also unlimited soft drinks too as well as a good choice of deserts.

The Breakfast all you can eat was included in the price of our stay, again not the best organisation we could have had. When we checked in the member of staff told us breakfast opened at 7am, we got down there for 7 so we could get to the buffet before the children, only to be told "no we do not open until 7:30am". However once we finally were allowed in the breakfast was brilliant. I could not fault it. They had everything you would need for a good English fry up, cereal, pastries etc and tasted very nice too.

We were told there was a woodland walk to get to the park but this did not open until 9:30am but we could get in the park an hour early from 9am so I felt this was extremely pointless, surely they should open this at 8:30 so people can take the walk to get to the park for 9am. We ended up getting the monorail, which was located just around the corner from the hotel.

During our stay we also had to call out maintenance as one of us had a shower the night before but in the morning the water was still there. We tried everything but it would not go away, obviously with the four of us in one room we all needed to use the shower that morning. We called out maintenance who were very quick in coming out to us and fixed the problem quite quickly but said it could happen again the next time we have a shower, luckily it didn't. but they didn't say what was wrong with it.

After saying all of this I did feel the cost of staying here for 1 night was quite cheap and reasonable, for the 4 of us it cost £367, which sounds expensive, but this included two day tickets to the park, which are usually £45 each per day and tickets to the Waterpark for one day, again these are £16.50 per person, plus the inclusion of breakfast and free car parking.

Overall I felt the food was ok for the type of hotel this is but they need to think more about the types of people they are accommodating. And for obvious reasons this is the best place to stay whilst going to the Park as it is on site and there is transport to get you to and from the park quickly. Good for a very short stay but I do not think I could last more than one night here!!

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A special treat for the family if you are feeling flush!

For our tenth anniversary two years ago, we wanted do do something a bit special, but we didn't want to exclude the kids. We came up with the idea of spending the night at Splash Landings Hotel, which is part of the Alton Towers Resort, followed by a day at the theme park itself.

Splash landings was relatively new when we went, and we had heard good things about it. Friends of ours had been to spend the day at the Waterpark complex within the hotel, and they had been very impressed with the facilities.

Booking online is relatively simple. You need to decide whether you want a room only deal, or room and theme park entry. Remember, if you use the water park, there is an additional charge for that too. We booked a room for the five of us, with theme park entry. The only gripe I had, was that online, you weren't clear what day the theme park entry was for.I had to phone and ask, and they said I could use it any day. When I actually got to the hotel, they had a different story. According to them I should have been told that it was a two day park pass. I wish they had clarified things when I booked, because it meant we lost one day in the park, although the staff were really nice about it and said we could take our extra day on the Sunday, although we never took them up on this, as it would have meant an extra night in the hotel.

Check in at the Hotel is nice and easy, and the staff are really cheerful and friendly, giving you all the information you need. When you walk to your room, you have a great view of the water park, as the corridors have large glass windows.

Our room was really nice, with everything we could have wanted. It was quite spacious and well furnished. A really nice touch was the amount of free toiletries that were supplied in the bathroom. Usually you get little travel sized shampoos and soaps, but at this hotel, you got full sized bottles of Mint Source Shampoo and Imperial Leather Foamburst Gel, amongst other goodies. Everything was fresh and clean and well maintained.

The Hotel has a restaurant called Flambos Feast. They serve a good range of breakfast items in the morning, where you can help yourself to as much as you want, though it isn't really adviseable if you want to ride the coasters later! In the evening they have an all you can eat buffet, with a fantastic variety of food, to suit everyone, and free refills on drinks. The highlight for me was the lovely chocolate fountain, and the lovely choice of mouthwatering ice creams!

In the evenings at the hotel, there is some entertainment for the kids, with music and competitions. There is a bar area called Ma Garritas, where you can relax with a Carribbean themed cocktail as you watch the shows. The entertainment staff were excellent, involving the audience as much as possible in the show.

The hotel is situated right next to the monorail, so access to the park is easy. We arranged to meet our friends in the park, and stayed until closing time.

As the park closed at 5:30 p.m. We headed back to the hotel to use the pool facilities. We were lucky, as the prices were reduced at that time of day. Normally, you would expect, to pay £55 for a family of five, which is quite steep, but we were able to go in for a fraction of that, as the pool closed at 7:00. It was really refreshing to get in the pool after a long day in the sunshine at the park. Everything was a really high standard with lots of slides and tubes for the kids, and splashy areas. There was also an outdoor area, similar to Center Parcs. There were lots of staff on hand, and the whole place felt safe and family friendly. The changing area was spacious and user friendly. My only slight downside was that my youngest son was 2 at the time, and there weren't any quiet areas to take him where he wouldn't be splashed, so he found it a little intimidating.

Another good thing about the hotel is that it is connected to the Alton Towers Hotel. If you navigate your way through the corridors, you see the pattern on the carpet gradually change and suddenly you are in a different hotel! You are allowed to use the restaurants and facilities in both hotels, and the Alton Towers Hotel has a lovely garden where you can sit and relax, as well as spa facilities.

I loved my stay at Splash Landings, but it was VERY expensive. One night in the hotel with park tickets for five of us cost over £200, and that didn't include our dinner or entry to the pool. I can't afford to do it every year, although I would like to, so the hotel loses a star for that reason. The good news is, I only have to wait another 3 years for my 15th anniversary......better start saving!

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The better of the two hotels at Alton Towers in my opinion!

One of the best Hotels I have ever stayed in :) The hotel is located right beside the monorail station that takes you to the theme park so it is great for access. There is also a large caroark for residents who drove ot the park.

The hotel is themed around an island resort and this is represented in its design featuring fountains, palm tress, bamboo sticks, warm air, tropical elevator music and bright tropical colours. It is all vey relaxing.

The hotel features an arcade and a large buffet area with a huge amount of food to choose from at a great price. Delicious! You must book your place here beforefhand!

Roomwise, the rooms are also themed after a tropical island. All rooms come with a tv and desk and a selection of bed tpes including double, single and bunk beds. Of course there is also a abthroom with sink shower and toilet. For anyone with young children there is also a special family room on each floor for parents to use fridges and freezers to store baby food etc.

The amin feature of this hotel is the large swimming pool attraction which can be viewed from big glass windows on the main floor. The pool is massive and largely indoors with a small are outside. There is a gangplank walkway around the outer edge of the pool to walk between the Alton Towers hotel and this hotel. The Pool features many slides, especially sldies featuring rubber floats.. There is also a climbing frame type area with mounted water guns which can be shot down into the main pool which is a great laugh.

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Great Hotel

Splash Landings is a themed Hotel at the Alton towers resort. "Feel like you have stepped into a Caribbean paradise without even stepping on a plane!" is what they boost.

I was lucky enough recently to win a an over night stay in the splash landings hotel from my local paper. I was over the moon as there is no way we would have been able to afford to go at the moment. I priced up how much it would cost for 2 adults and 2 infants and the two day passes for the theme park and it came to £328.

Firstly finding the hotel was straight forward Alton towers is signed all the way from the M1 but it is quite a distance and we also borrowed a Sat Nav for back up. We parked up in the huge car park and walked down to the hotel with our luggage. We were greeted by a friendly porter who pointed us in the direction of the reception desk. Inside really does feel like your in a beach resort abroad rather than the middle of countryside in England. The attention to detail is great and staff are dressed in brightly coloured Hawaiian shirts. There is also a water park with in the hotel. It looked so much fun but I didn't want to take such a small baby into the water park but it was nice to watch everyone having fun.

Lucky we didn't have to queue at the reception, we arrived shortly after 11 and it was mid week and out of the school holidays. The reception staff were excellent and explained everything to us about the hotel. They also made arrangement to have a cot in our room. Our room wouldn't be ready until 3 but we were able to leave our luggage. We were also told how to make reservations at the hotel restaurants and what options we had as to where we could eat. We opted for a Pizza pasta restaurant as we had the kids with us. So off we headed to the park and were told by staff to enjoy our stay which I though was lovely.

We returned and after a fabulous day in the park to collect our room key after the park had closed at 5. Once again the staff were very friendly and directed us to our room as well as the restaurant. On entering the lifts we were surprised when " Every bodies going surfing" started playing as the lift music it was rather amusing and a big hit with my 3 year old.

We entered our room and I was pleasantly surprised how spacious it felt. We stayed in a beachcomber room they also have themed rooms too. There was a large bath room, and in the main room a double bed, single bed and a cot. A large dressing table and kettle and coffee and a decent sized flat screen TV. The room decoration fits in with the rest of the hotels beach theme. Although one thing to note is there is no bath just shower. The room was full of information about the Hotel and theme park which was useful. They had even included a colouring book and crayons for the kids.

After unpacking we made our way to Flambo's Exotic restaurant for our evening meal. The restaurant does a Pizza/Pasta buffet in peak season but as we were out of session we ordered from the menu again it had a range of pasta and pizza to choice from nothing too fancy standard pizzas and sides like chip and garlic bread. They offer meal deals too. Sadly I wasn't paying much attention to prices as we had a meal voucher as part of our prize but I think pizza were under £7 and the pastas too. The meal was nice and we found out this was were breakfast would be served in the morning which was included in the price of the room.

On to bed and the double bed was very comfy but slightly smaller than a standard double bed I think but cosy anyway. The single bed mattress was rather uncomfortable but I couldn't moan as we weren't paying.

Breakfast in the morning was fantastic there was something to suit everyone. With a range of pastries as well as muffins and donuts, a full fryed breakfast section with the usual egg, beans bacon and so on. A selection of fresh fruits, toast and cereal I'm sure even the most fussy eater could find something they liked amongst that lot. Also you could help yourself to tea, coffee and juices.

The checkout process was simple we just left our room key with the porter and we had set up an account but had nothing to settle. You just keep your room ticket so you don't have to pay when leaving the car park. Also when your staying at the hotel you can enter the theme park an hour before it offically opens and a selected numbers of rides can be riden. We felt like VIP's making our way through the waiting crowds and entering the park first.

I was very impressed with this hotel and all the resort staff. I am happy to recommend and we are saving up to return next year. Excellent.

Review first appeared on Helphound

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Excellent weekend away

I have stayed at the Splash Landings hotel a couple of times now only one night at a time, just me and the boyfriend. Even though its family orientated we still have a brilliant time. There are places to eat inside the hotel and you can always wonder to the other hotel. The first time we stayed we booked a table in one of the restaurants but thought it was a bit pricey nice food though. When we stayed we had breakfast included which had a wide variety of food to help yourself to.

The waterpark is really fun with an outside pool too, the last time we went the weather was lovely and we were by the outside pool in our swimming gear enjoying a drink, it was like being abroad.

If you have tickets for the theme park, you are allowed to get into the park before all the day guests arrive, which is nice to have a head start.

When you are booking you can choose different packages to suit your stay.

Well worth the stay, really pleased with the rooms at the hotel they are all carribean style rooms makes you feel like a kid again.

Whenever we want to go to Alton Towers we always end up staying at the Splash Landings hotel.

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Stay here at reduced rates but go elsewhere to eat!

I've stayed at the Splash Landings Hotel in the Alton Towers park a couple of times now, and each time have had an enjoyable stay. The hotel is not without some flaws but overall my experiences have been good.

Firstly I will say I get the rooms in the hotel cheap through my staff discount, and pay £80 a night for 2 people to go bed and breakfast. This is good value to me as the convenience of being near the park and the early ride time makes it well worth the money. However, I'm not sure I would ever pay the full rather extotionate rate they charge without the discount, which is over £200 per room per night.

So, the hotel itself. First impressions were good - the reception area is massive and the Caribbean theme is fun. The check-in service is efficient and although there is often a queue I didn't wait long. The staff are well-informed and answered my questions well. The only criticism I will make is that the hotel does have a pervading smell of chlorine from the waterpark, but the view into the waterpark from the hotel is cool.

The rooms are, I would say, adequate. The beds are reasonably comfortable, the bathroom well equipped and they are decently clean. They are more than good enough as a place to sleep and with so much to do in the hotel that is essentially what they are. We had a view out onto the monorail station which was not particularly exciting but fine. The rooms are fairly quiet considering this is such a family based hotel.

After a visit to the waterpark we decided to go for our evening meal in the Alton Towers Hotel's restaurant The Secret Garden. The price of the buffet meal at Flambo's in the Splash Landings Hotel put us off. However we regretted our decision on seeing the limited menu and prices charged in the restaurant. There wasn't a lot of choice so I went for a burger and my boyfriend had a chicken dish. Both arrived cold, and the burger was chewy and tough. The portions were also on the stingy side. I think the food must be pre-cooked rather than done to order, and the quality suffered. Also, despite repeatedly asking our drinks didn't arrive until we had nearly finished our main course. Not quite good enough.

Breakfast the next morning was also a fairly unsatifactory experience. The choice of food was O.K but the execution wasn't great as the cooked breakfast was too greasy and slimy. I tried a little bit but ended up having cereal and fruit which was much better.

Overall my experience of the hotel was decent, and my only complaints come from the food served in the hotel which was not up to scratch for the prices paid. But it was a good place to rest our heads before going into the park the next day and was worth staying there for the early ride time which meant we went straight onto Oblivion with no queues - a real baptism of fire for the day!

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3/5

Before you start reading i would like to start by saying that i am not reviewing the Splash Landings Hotel but the water park.

I went to the water park today at Alton Towers with 3 of my mates as a day out and something to do. The water park itself has 3 major water slides The Master Blaster, Rush N Rampage and Flash Floods. Out of the 3 slides i would say only two of them are worth going on and they are The Master Blaster and Rush N Rampage.

The Master Blaster is a slide in which you get a rubber ring single/double (although the double has an age restriction) and you are sent at a high speed up and down and around the slide. To be honest this is the best slide they have to offer and the most annoying as you are stuck waiting to collect a rubber ring for at least half an hour before entering another line to wait for the slide itself. This was my favourite as we went on it at least 4 times and is really worth going on. 4/5

Rush N Rampage is a slide were you also have to use a rubber ring and are sent down one of two pipes, this slide isn't as fun and isn't as long as The Master Blaster but is fun within itself and you don't have to wait aslong in the line for the rings!! 3/5

The other attractions that the waterpark have to offer are the Wacky Waterworks Treehouse, Lazy River and a swimming pool. The Wacky Waterworks is basically a climbing frame with certain things to do such as shooting people with water guns from high up top etc... It also has a tipping bucket on top which fills with water and when full empty's on anyone underneath, i personally found this a nice little feature. The Lazy River is also a nice little feature as you are sent around in a circle going under waterfalls. I really enjoyed this apart from i thought they could of made it a little bigger!

Overall i feel that had Alton Towers of made the water park a little bigger and put some more features in such as more slides they would of been looking at the best water park in the UK. However i believe that after 3 hours of being there you will have already have done everything twice and may find yourself a little bored. I give this water park a 3/5 as i believe there is room for improvement.

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A decent day out at probably the best water park the UK has to offer!

Let me begin with saying that I am not reviewing the hotel but the water park within the hotel. I have not stayed at the hotel only visited it recently on a day visit for the water park.

Cariba Creek is the centerpiece to the Splash Landings Hotel at Alton Towers. Just like the theme park I imagine it attracts many people especially during the summer months and increase the number of bookings for the hotel itself.

For one adult it costs just £14.00 which is a fair price in comparison to the £38.00 that they charge you to get into the theme park (mind you the theme park has a lot more to offer!) It was something new to the 4 of us who went and we all enjoyed the day but I think we were all let down slightly or maybe we just set our expectations of the place a little too high.

The park only has 3 slides. The Master Blaster, Rush N Rampage and Flash Floods. Alongside the 3 slides are The Lazy River, A Jacuzzi both indoor and out, an actual pool, small childrens pool and the Wacky Waterworks Treehouse which included the infamous Tipping Bucket.

The Master Blaster - 4/5 - A very entertaining slide. The use of water jets to push you and your dinghy at fast speeds around a bendy slide with a big plunge at the end. Great for everyone. You can do it both in singles and doubles. Only downfall with this slide and it's a big one was the queue waiting time. This could easily be solved by introducing more dinghy's. Spent almost 30 minutes in a 30 person queue!

Rush N Rampage - 3/5 - A decent slide. One that you can race against another person but it was nothing spectacular. Good fun and the queue was usually short.

Flash Floods - 2/5 - A series of short slides in which you chose your path but there was only 2 slides you could go on per time and none of them were anything special!

The Lazy River - 2/5 - A few water features to try and boost the experience on a very short river style pool. Poor

The Wacky Waterworks Treehouse - 5/5 - Cracking! I may be almost 18 but even I had a lot of fun on this feature. It is basically a huge climbing frame with lots of water features to wet other people! Lots and lots of fun for everyone. This also included the tipping bucket which is something special! Every so often a huge bucket would be filled with water and tip down the climbing frame onto those below. A great laugh!

If Alton Towers were to add to this water park they need to add a more exciting set of slides. Some steep ones that are at almost every water park around the world. Something on the lines of Summit Plummet (Blizzard Beach Orlando Florida) or the Jumeirah Sceirah (Wild Wadi Dubai)

Another downfall of the water park was it's lack of food and drink options. Basically you had to choose between an overpriced hotdog or and overpriced sandwich (£5.50!). We ended up getting back in the car and driving 15 minutes to the nearest McDonalds!

The park is very family friendly however with lots to entertain both kids and adults. The changing rooms were clean and tidy and easily accessible. Its worth the day out but if you have a choice between this and the theme park. Pay that little extra to go to the theme park!

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Not worth going to at all stay at the other hotel

Originally me and my family were going to stay at the Alton Towers hotel for my brother but as this one was newer and had the big pool we thought it was probably better. When we got there it was not worth the extravanagant price we paid. Firstly I think they shouldn't have let us get a room me being 17 at the time and my brother being 15 we could not fit on the kiddies bunk beds comfortably. There was nothing special about the hotel the only good thing was the pool.

The pool was amazing there was something for everyone and included both an inside and outside section. I was just like being in the park itself like a thrill ride.

I dont think this hotel is worth it we paid lots of money and we got 20% off for being an annual pass holder. I reccommed that people especially those with older children should stay in the Alton Towers Hotel when we went in to get something to eat and it was much nicer and the rooms seem much nicer in the brochure as well.

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Enjoyable but expensive

I stayed at the Alton Towers Splash Landings hotel in February 2007 for their Towers and Treats event. It cost £168 for 2 adults 1 child and 1 infant including free access to the Towers and Treats event, unlimited rides on oblivion and various other rides in Old Mcdonalds farm, a 2 day waterpark pass for the 4 of us and a buffet breakfast with one nights stay.

Arrival - The hotel has a large foyer area with a caribbean theme, my son immediately ran over to the large windows which feature throughout the lobby and overlook the Cariba Creek waterpark and it is a fantastic sight. The reception area was very quiet and although we had arrived 4 hours before the official check in time we were able to access our room straight away. The reception staff were very friendly and provided us with an information booklet, a guide to what was taking place in the hotel and our entrance wristbands for the waterpark and theme park. This did confuse us slightly as we had been posted wristbands 2 weeks prior but on arrival we were told these were no good and needed to be replaced, no explanation was given as to why, but this wasnt a problem. The reception staff are more than happy to answer any questions you may have and if you are unable to check in to your room early they have a storage room located behind the reception desk to store your luggage if you dont want to leave it in your car. On being handed our room key we were given clear directions to our room and told where we could locate the lifts, so off we went to our room!The room - Pleasantly surprised having read a number of reviews of this hotel before. The room continues with the caribbean theme and has seaside themed carpet and beachwashed style furniture. Our room also featured a double bed with the mattress made by silent night which was very comfortable. A dressing table area, bunk beds, television, tea and coffee making facilities, spare plug sockets which were especially handy for us travelling with a baby, a hairdryer is also provided. Despite the 2 beds, and dressing table area the room was still very spacious and left us with plenty of room to move around even with the moses basket in place next to the bed. Our room was well lit and overlooked the outdoor pool area of cariba creek. The bathroom was slightly on the small side though large enough if only staying for a couple of nights. There is a bath, sink, shower over bath, toilet and plenty of room around the sink for all your toiletries. You are also provided with a bundle of imperial leather goodies which you are encouraged to take home with you if you dont use them during your stay. This was a nice touch.

Food - You are welcome to use any of the restaurants in either hotel and you can access the original Alton Towers hotel via a covered walkway. There is an a la carte restaurant called the secret garden which was too expensive for my liking so we opted for the buffet style restaurant in Splash Landings. It was £18.95 per adult and £6.95 for a child, this was great for us as our 8 year old eats adult meals now so he really got his moneys worth and probably ate more than me. £18.95 was quite a fair price for an adult I thought as you would easily pay that for a 3 course meal in a restaurant and of course this was all you can eat so you always tend to eat a little more than you usually would. Drinks arent included in the price and although the drinks arent cheap, they are no dearer than your average hotel so we were happy with the cost. The food on offer in the buffet was nice and their was a wide choice, from your usual chips and burgers for the kids to more oriental style food, mexican and traditional english such as cottage pie. There is also a salad bar along with baked potatoes.Food is also available from the bar area by reception between the hours of 6pm and 6am and offers sandwiches, pizzas and light snacks. There are a variety of cocktails available along with childrens cocktails which I love as it makes children feel so grown up for some reason!! There wasnt a room service menu in our room but Id imagine you could phone the bar to order your food and just pop out when its ready which would be ok.

The waterpark - access to the waterpark is on the ground floor. There are ample changing facitilies and their is also a swim shop in case youve forgotten to pack your swimwear. We didnt go in here so im not sure whether its pricey or not. There are plenty of seating areas around the waterpark for when you want a rest and you are able to take your towel in and purchase drinks and snacks by the poolside. There are plently of water attractions for young and old alike and they have a fantstic ride called the master blaster which is the scariest water ride ive ever been on and would highly recommend to all thrill seekers out there. There are some smaller slides also and a separate infant and toddler pool though this often seemed busier and more crowded than the larger pool so we just took our daughter in the shallow end of the larger pool which she really enjoyed.Entertainment - The hotel does offer evening entertainment and varies from singers to karaoke to magicians and this was all in one night. We didnt stay up for it due to travelling with a baby for the entertainment programme did look good and full of fun for both adults and children. There is a shop called The Shack by the lobby where you can purchase your magazines and newspapers and there is an arcade room on the second floor by the buffet restaurant which offers numerous slot machines, grabber machines and air hockey tables.

Overall we really enjoyed our stay here and I thought the price we paid was very fair. The prices for hotel stays do shoot up in the summer months and in peak holiday times so be wary of this as you may not get value for money and I can imagine that the service may not be as good when the hotel is full capacity. I would definitely stay here again though would probably opt for a weekday or when they have special deals.

This is my own review and has featured on another review website.

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Not worth the money

I vistited Splash Landing Hotel with 12 friends in September last year. We'd managed to get a fairly good deal of £67 each for a night in the hotel and 2 days in the park. The downside was, we had to have 3/4 people in each room to get that price. We had looked at the main hotel, but were told that it was fully booked.

On checking in, the first thing I noticed was the over powering smell of chlorine. Understandably, the Carriba Creek waterpark is in the middle of the hotel, but surely the whole hotel shouldn't smell that much? The whole of reception was covered in huge, bright, tropical decorations, and carribean music was playing quite loudly int he background. The staff on reception were very helpful, we left or luggage with them and went to enjoy the park for the day.

Upon returning to the hotel, we decided to shower and then meet for dinner. The rooms are extremely small, and the beds are much smaller than a normal size, not really suitable for 3 adults in a room. We had a small double bed, and tiny bunk beds, which I guess is the same for all the rooms after talking to friends. I was impressed with how clean the room was, the bathroom was spotless - which is a good thing to see in a hotel! The decoration was horrible though, bright, lairy carpets and walls, and the bedsheets were enough to give you a headache. We had a room that overlooked the waterpark, and we could still smell chlorine in our room.

We met for dinner and decided to check out the restaurant. I wasn't too hungry, but the only thing on offer was a buffet style meal, with chinese, thai and british food. It cost £19-95 per person, which we all agreed was far too expensive, so we went back to the bar to look at the menu there. Here they did more simple food, such as pizzas, which were a lot cheaper - so we stuck with this option. We couldn't complain about the food, it came quickly and was good value for money compared to the buffet.

The bar at the hotel wasn't very busy at all, by 9.30 we were the only guests left. The barman did his best to entertain us and even brought our drinks over to our tables for us. After an hour we heard that there was a band on in the main hotel, so we headed over.

As soon as we got to the main hotel, I think we all had the same thoughts - why hadn't we stayed here instead? It's a very impressive hotel, high ceilings and huge staircases - really somethign to look at. After seeing the bar and arcades in this hotel, ours seemed very cheap and tacky in comparison. There was much more of a 'buzz' and atmosphere here, and the live entertainment was a good touch, The whole bar area was packed, with no kids running around.

I personally wouldn't stay at Splash Landings again, I'd stay in the main hotel. I can see why it would be good for families with children, but for those who are older, it's just like being in a kid's playground.

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A nice place to stay but they do charge too much

My self and my family stayed at the Splash Landings Hotel a few years ago. We booked to stay there on a special offer and recieved two days access to the park as well. An advantage with this being that you get to access the park an hour before the general public which saves you having to queue for as long for some of the rides, and you can collect some of your fast track tickets.

The hotel itself has a large adventure swimming pool inside, which is very popular with the children. You are able to go to the swimming pool in the evening after the theme park has closed. There is also a few arcades inside the hotel, which is often full of cildren at night as there is nothing much else to do. There is a resaurant, however it is over priced when you think you could just drive down the road to a pub to eat!

All in all, i would say that it is over priced and over rated. We were lucky in getting a special offer - many other people i have spoken to have been ripped off.

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visit the waterpark but stay somewhere else

Me and my husband took the kids in the summer and I think it is overpriced and over rated, heres why!!The accommodation is clean but basic.The staff are not very helpful, they are intent on selling you some discounted extras.It is very busy.

The good things are the water park itself however it does have a child to adult limit.This is 1 adult to 1 child under 41 adult to 2 children age 5 - 9This is awkward if like me you have one under and one over. I was lucky my husband came otherwise I think we might have had a problem. My daughter loved the little leak where you can paddle and slide about she was shreaking with laughter. If you have an over 5 go for the jacuzzi's I could have stayed there all day. I will go back but just for day or if we are to stay overnight I will find a b&b nearby

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An ok hotel but not what you would expect

The Splash Landings hotel opened in summer of 2003 and it is Europe's first waterpark hotel. It is owned by the Tussauds groups and it is the second Alton Towers hotel. It is advertised as a "tranquil Caribbean village built around the Caribbean water park "Cariba Creek" the best place to see what's going on in Cariba Creek is certainly from inside the hotel! With huge glass windows and with a beach theme the hotel offers you a very rewarding look over the water park". I certainly didn't find our experience there to be tranquil - it was anything but.

The waterpark in the hotel is called Cariba Creek and looking at it from all angles, it just looked like something that would appeal to children rather than adults. It covers about 40,000 sq ft and has been in operation since June 2003. It takes a million gallons of water to fill the place and it seems like it would appeal to family minded people rather than those into the thrill seeking aspect of roller coasters - although I can't guarantee that there are no thrills to be had in Cariba Creek!

Booking:

We stayed at Splash Landings on 28th/29th September. I booked the hotel over 1 month in advance and was told that the Alton Towers hotel was fully booked but that Splash Landings would be fantastic. I wanted to pay the full amount and it was taken from my card and I was promised an email would be sent out as confirmation of the booking and with our unique booking reference. I waited for 4 days for this email, and even though the money was taken I still didn't receive any kind of confirmation. I phoned up the booking line and it took 15 minutes for them to find my reservation (which panicked me slightly!) but eventually they found it, and all was well.

We were told we could arrive at the hotel anytime we liked and check in and leave our bags at reception, and that our rooms would be ready around 3pm. This sounded perfect.

Arrival & Check In

We arrived at Alton Towers slightly earlier than planned due to no traffic (a bonus!) but as we were told we could check in and leave our bags with reception we were not too worried. We walked into the hotel and unfortunately the first thing to hit us was the smell of chlorine from the water park, which is situated in the middle of the hotel. Although surrounded by glass, the smell of the water park was overpowering, and not really something I want to smell as soon as I step into a hotel.

We proceeded to check in at around 7.00am and asked if we could leave our bags with reception (this was not offered) and after looking quite confused the member of staff agreed and proceeded to tag our bags. We were given a key card for our rooms in a little holder that contained our name and room number. We were told we could open a tab for any drinks or food we wanted if we wished.

Having left our bags with reception I asked what we needed to do about our tickets to the theme park and I was told that we could collect them at 8am. We had a wander around the hotel for an hour and I must say I was slighyly dissapointed with what I saw.

The Hotel & Rooms & Breakfast

The décor of the hotel is very much a "Caribbean feel", but with a bit of a tacky undertone, and definitely aimed at children rather than adults. I understand the hotel is for "families" and as such is geared towards children, but it did feel a bit cheap, which unfortunately it wasn't. The room was also decorated with a lary caribbean theme, with pineapple lampstands, and very bright duvet covers. The cleanliness of the room was faultless and the bathroom was prestine, which was fantastic. There was a double bed (smaller than a double!) and two bunkbeds which were quite small.

The breakfast in the morning was actually very nice. It was a buffet and was included in the price of the room. There was cereal, pastries, muffins, fruit and of course the english breakfast. I must admit I had a bit of everything and it was very tasty, and not at all greasy. There was a constent flow of food, and it didn't run out at all and was served from 7.30am to 10am which gave us plenty of time to eat before we headed out to the park.

We didn't end up having dinner in the hotel resturant, mainly due to the fact that it did seem increadibly expensive for what was being served.

Summary

When I booked the hotel I was told that, because we were hotel guests, we would get access into the park from 9am and access to rides. We were to find out later that "access to rides" was very misleading, and what it actually meant was "restricted access to rides". Obviuosly we aimed to go on the bigger "thrill seeker" rides such as Air and Nemesis, however we were informed, one in the park, that those particular rides, and similar ones were not in fact open until 10am, but that "family orientated" rides were open to hotel guests from 9am. I did complain to someone, and he said that a list of rides open was on the website. I still cannot find this list, and have been told by a member of staff in the park that the hotel has been warned about misleading guests.

The main reason we stayed at a hotel in the grounds of Alton Towers was to have early access to rides, but to be honest I think I would stay at a local B&B or similar next time.

We did take a walk from Splash Landings into the Alton Towers Hotel, and I was quite upset to find that this hotel was far nicer than Splash Landings. It felt a lot more like a hotel rather than a play area and I would have been so much happier staying there.

All in all the hotel was ok, the rooms were clean etc. but not what I would of expected from a top attraction such as Alton Towers. The rate which we paid also seemed quite high considering the décor and general feel of it. If I was to go to Alton Towers again I wouldn't stay here.

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Recommended? Definitely - if you have small children

Having organised an office trip out to Alton Towers for the day, we decided it would be best to travel up the previous day and stay overnight to get the most out of the rides the next day rather than leave London at the crack of dawn.

BOOKING PROCESS

As the Alton Towers hotel was fully booked already (or so we were advised by the bookings team) we decided to opt for the Splash Landings hotel instead. I had originally tried to book an earlier date and had communicated with the "Leisure Events Coordinator" (LEC) via email who I had not found very forthcoming with information. When I confirmed the date that we actually wanted I was advised that the Splash Landings hotel was fully booked on that date. I was a bit suspicious of this as when I tried to book the rooms online it was allowing me to book the rooms - so I advised this to the LEC who suddenly found that there had been some cancellations. I also then found out that the person I was dealing with had been standing in for someone else so I guess their haphazardness might have been due to it "not being their job"! I don't like this attitude at all, if you are standing in for someone you should do the job as well as they do or not at all. I was already feeling a bit wary about what to expect. I literally had to ask questions about everything rather than this information being volunteered to me in the first place which is what one would expect when you contact a company about a group booking.

Initially there were supposed to be 25 of us staying at the hotel, having dinner there and 24 of us going to the Theme Park the following day. I am fairly certain we were not given the best deal by booking through the LEC - we were quoted £23 a head for Theme Park entry, the normal price is £32 a head it seems but there are deals all over the internet for £16 a head (or rather 2 for 1 deals). The LEC insisted we were getting the best deal by booking through them as they specifically dealt with group bookings. Booking online through the site did actually seem to give you a better room rate but it wouldn't allow me to book 13 rooms online so I had no alternative but to use the LEC. Our rooms worked out to be about £142 per room for 2 people sharing and £135 per room for single occupancy. All rooms slept 4 people but we didn't want to put 3 or 4 people into a room and just as well as it would have been rather cramped. On looking around at descriptions of the hotel, it seems that when you book the hotel you're supposed to get free entry to the park included with your stay. This is something I will be taking up with the LEC, as I feel I was given false information.

With our rooms we also booked dinner at the Flambo's Exotic Feast restaurant which was £18.95 a head for a buffet type meal (normal price £20 a head). We had no idea what to expect when making the booking as it wasn't really advised to us what was on offer. I had to email specifically to ask if vegetarians were catered for as well as requesting if there was food suitable for those with dairy allergies.

ARRIVAL AND CHECK IN

Prior to arrival I submitted a list of who was going to be sharing with whom and when we arrived, our rooms were all ready for us - everyone had a little card to complete with their signature and asked if they wanted to charge anything to their room and if so, they would need to leave a credit card imprint. The check in process was easy and quick and the reception staff were very friendly and efficient. An envelope had been left at reception for my attention with the tickets to the Theme Park for the following day. Apart from the tickets there were no priority passes for us which should have been included with the tickets, we had to specifically request these in the morning when checking out.

Although the majority of our group checked in after well after 7p.m. when we arrived from London via coach; one of our colleagues had flown in to Manchester in the morning and was allowed to check in at around 10a.m. which had been pre-arranged, which is something the hotel is currently trying out. Check in times are normally from 3p.m. onwards and check out time is 10a.m.

THE HOTEL, ROOMS, BAR & RESTAURANT

On arrival there were a welcome message for us on the electronic display as you enter the hotel welcoming our group but it was a rotating message so most of our group didn't even see it and after a 4.5 hour journey we didn't want to hang around just to see a welcome message. We took the word of our other colleagues who had actually seen it. As we walked into the reception area, some of my colleagues laughed and asked me if I'd booked us into the kid's section. That's honestly what it looked like with big childish looking objects all over the place - I know the place was supposed to be Caribbean themed but it did look and feel like we'd entered a rather large children's play area.

The rooms have a credit card type key which you have to insert in the door before you can gain entry to your room. My card took 4 attempts to work. You can't rush these things you know! You have to really slowly insert the card for it to activate and let you in the room. A bit frustrating when you just want to get into your room! As I walked into the room I gulped in dismay. As well as the bedspreads being in your face "Caribbean styled" and brightly coloured the carpet was matching too. I felt like I was walking on a bed of starfish and crabs and it did somewhat creep me out! The rooms are definitely designed with kids in mind! My room had a double bed (which seemed a bit smaller than a regular double bed) and a pair of bunk beds and from what my colleagues told me all of their rooms were the same too. There was no waste paper bin in my bedroom anywhere, nor was there a remote control for me to change the channel or turn the TV on and off. I could only get one channel which was BBC1 and even that I couldn't watch as it kept giving me an error message every 5 minutes saying there was no signal. The only way to get the channel back was to turn the TV off and back on again manually which was a pain as I wanted to hear the news whilst having a quick shower before going to meet my colleagues for dinner. The bathroom was quite small, but clean. There were 2 glasses and 4 bath towels, 2 hand towels and a bath mat as well as shampoo, shower gel and bath foam. The shampoo was a large bottle of Original Source which was very nice and the shower gel was a trial size Imperial Leather foaming gel which would not have been sufficient if the room had been occupied by 4 people. There was a full sized hand wash by the sink too.

I found the lighting to be severely lacking in the room but didn't bother complaining about this or the TV or the lack of a dustbin to the staff as I was planning to spend the evening at dinner with my colleagues after which we were going to drink in the bar. The bedroom was basically just for sleeping, we were going to be checking out straight after breakfast in the morning.

A nice added touch to the rooms was that they had left 2 takeaway Alton Towers bags in each room which came in very handy as I had not thought about it prior to arriving but my small handbag would not have been enough for me to carry around the bits I needed during the day such as camera, phone, spare shoes, etc.

The bar had a children's cabaret on when we went there at about 7.45pm. There were a handful of toddlers watching the "pirate" which we all found rather boring. I actually thought the pirate looked a bit scary and was surprised the children weren't hiding behind their parents. He was very loud - so much so that we all went with our drinks straight into the beer garden which was handy for me (being the only smoker). It was a pleasant evening so we were comfortable sitting outside having a relaxing drinking before going down to the Flambo's Exotic Feast restaurant where we had 5 tables reserved for our group. The buffet dinner had cost us £18.95 a head which was prepaid and we just had to put our drinks during dinner on a separate credit card.

I have to admit the buffet dinner was way more than we had expected. It really was quite an "exotic feast" as they describe on the board leading to the restaurant. I found the staff at the entrance to the reception to be perfectly polite and efficient but the waiting staff who took our drinks orders were severely lacking in manners and efficiency. They took an absolute age to bring our first round of drinks to us and I had ordered a £2.45 unlimited soft drink refill - this took about 20 minutes for them to even bring over the empty cup for this for me and and my other colleague next to me who'd ordered this. They managed to even bring the cocktails and all other drinks before they could just give us an empty paper cup to pour ourselves a drink from the self-service drinks machine.

As for what was available to eat, I'll try to give a rundown of what was on offer:

I have to say that the food was pretty good (although the Thai and Chinese dishes lacked a certain something - less flavoursome than from an authentic Thai or Chinese chef); I tried a good mix of the different foods on offer and along with my colleagues we must have had a sample of everything that was on offer. We could not fault one single one of the items on offer and I don't think even one of us left the restaurant without a full and happy stomach! The biggest letdown during dinner was how long it took to get a waitresses attention. They were fast enough coming over to the table to whip the plates away literally as soon as you put your fork down (in some cases a bit too fast as I was quite happy to re-use my plate for the courses) but when it came to trying to get someone's attention to order a drink it was as if they made a point of not looking at anyone directly or even in the direction of guests which most of us found very frustrating, especially those who just wanted a bottle of water.

I found the restaurant (catering) staff to be rather miserable too. One of my colleagues said to the man serving ice cream that there were no bowls left for the ice cream or dessert and he snapped at him to ask one of the restaurant staff. I was rather stunned at his rudeness. He didn't even crack a smile when he asked me how many scoops I wanted - as I said "I guess it's a bit cheeky to ask for 25 scoops so I'll just have 2 please!" He barely even looked at me let alone anything else as he scooped his ice cream into my bowl with a bit too much precision!

On finishing dinner we retired to the bar of Splash Landings hotel for a couple of hours (Ma Garritas). We were very pleased the children's cabaret had long since finished so we were able to have drinks in relative peace with non-intrusive music being played into the beer garden where we decided to settle again. Some of my colleagues wandered over to the Alton Towers Hotel bar next door as there was a live band playing but by the time I wandered over there to have a look, the band had long since finished and my colleagues were all sitting outside in the rather more luxurious gardens of the Towers Hotel.

I wandered back to Splash Landings feeling rather sad that we had drawn the short straw when it came to hotels. The Alton Towers Hotel definitely seemed more up our street and even more so when I returned to my room at shortly after midnight and saw half a dozen teenaged girls in underwear running around giggling in and out of rooms surrounding mine. I needn't have worried as once I was inside my room I didn't hear any more noise - this could have been down to good sound-proofing or the fact that I glared at the girls screaming with laughter as they went into the room opposite mine.

I'm not sure why I didn't have a good night's sleep; the double bed I slept in was really very comfortable. The room had a stand up fan provided which I turned on and left on all night. Tea, coffee and biscuits were provided in the room. In the dressing table drawers was a hairdryer from Superdrug and there was the standard Bible in the bedside table.

As well as the Flambo's restaurant there is food available in the Ma Garrita's bar where a "Nite Bite" menu is available for late night snackers.

BREAKFAST

Breakfast is a eat as much as you like buffet affair and included in the room price - again like the evening meal - breakfast was grand affair with items such as fruit, cereal, muffins, bread and toaster, jams, marmalade, fruit, bacon, eggs, sausages, friend tomatoes, tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice and milk. You could help yourself to as much as you liked but as most of us had had rather a large dinner we didn't fill up too much on breakfast. Some of my colleagues were planning to go on every ride possible at the Theme Park so didn't want to risk breakfast coming out on the more exciting rides!

Breakfast is available from 7.30 until 10a.m. Best to give yourself at least 20 minutes for breakfast though if you like to fill up!

CHECK OUT/PORTER SERVICE

Checking out was very easy, although we had to wait a while as they arranged our priority passes which hadn't been included in the envelope of tickets left at reception for me. This took a bit of time and it was very nice that we were able to leave our overnight bags with the porter for the day as it would have been a right royal pain to have to carry them around all day - although I had checked about this when making the booking. Everyone who left a bag was asked for their surname and initial and given a ticket with a unique number on it.

When we returned to the hotel at 4pm to collect our bags there was no confusion and it was all dealt with rather efficiently.

RATING OF VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE HOTEL

Booking process: 6 out of 10Appearance of hotel: 5 out of 10 (if you have kids you might rate it higher)Standard of rooms: 5 out of 10 (again if you have kids you might rate it higher)Reception: 8 out of 10 for friendliness and efficiencyRestaurant: 10 out of 10 for food (dinner and breakfast), 5 out of 10 for staff efficiencyBar: 6 out of 10, pricey, friendly, childish (I know, a bit strange for a BAR)!Cariba Creek Waterpark: can't rate as we didn't use but this seemed to be something that would only appeal to young children

Overall rating 7 out of 10, I wouldn't choose to stay here again, although I can see why it would be attractive to families with kids. The majority of other guests staying here seemed to be families with small toddlers (no school aged children as we made sure we booked our trip for after the kids had gone back to school) and teens aged 16 plus. We accounted for the children going back to school but didn't account for the noisy kids who are yet to go back to 6th form or university! Not meaning to sound old and boring - our group had a mix of people from early their 20s to early 40s.

A BIT MORE ABOUT THE HOTEL

The Splash Landings hotel opened in summer of 2003 and it is Europe's first waterpark hotel. It is owned by the Tussauds groups and it is the second Alton Towers hotel. It is advertised as a "tranquil Caribbean village built around the Caribbean water park "Cariba Creek" the best place to see what's going on in Cariba Creek is certainly from inside the hotel! With huge glass windows and with a beach theme the hotel offers you a very rewarding look over the water park". I certainly didn't find our experience there to be tranquil - it was anything but. They specifically say that they don't accommodate all male or all female groups, so if you're planning to go on a single sex outing, please check before you book.

The waterpark in the hotel is called Cariba Creek and looking at it from all angles, it just looked like something that would appeal to children rather than adults. It covers about 40,000 sq ft and has been in operation since June 2003. It takes a million gallons of water to fill the place and it seems like it would appeal to family minded people rather than those into the thrill seeking aspect of roller coasters - although I can't guarantee that there are no thrills to be had in Cariba Creek!

The hotel has a small shop which stocks souvenirs and essential swimming gear as well as games rooms equipped with pool table and various arcade games.

The address for the hotel is: AltonTowers, Alton, Staffordshire, ST10 4DB and their phone number is 08705 204060 (another thing that annoys me is these companies having 0870 numbers which means you get charged at national rate to call them)!

All in all I would say that I just about recommend the hotel but if you're just having 2 people per room it works out to be quite expensive. On the other hand if you book 4 to a room it would be rather crowded as the rooms are quite small and there'd definitely be a queue for the bathroom in the morning!

I would also add that as well as being child friendly the hotel is also very well laid out for disabled access all round.